With 1,260 cyclists and hundreds of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, the 14th annual "Bikers With Boxes" was a major success this year.
According to CBN News, over 5,000 shoeboxes were delivered to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was done in advance of Operation Christmas Child's National Collection Week, which will take place next month.
The news was posted on Facebook by evangelist Franklin Graham, who serves as the president of Samaritan's Purse as well as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
"Wow! More than 1,260 bikers came out to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte on Saturday and brought 5,242 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to the #BikersWithBoxes event. That's what I call a special delivery! God bless these bikers for making a difference in the lives of children around the world," Graham said in the caption to the pictures he posted.
Dennis Agajanian, a Christian musician, entertained guests as hundreds of volunteers collected shoeboxes packed with presents for underprivileged children worldwide.
Along with the presents, the kids got a little pamphlet outlining Jesus Christ's gospel message.
"These bikers are great! They brought 4,064 Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to today's #BikersWithBoxes event at the Billy Graham Library. Thanks to all the 904 who came and to my good friend Dennis Agajanian for sharing his music with us," Graham wrote in another series of pictures.
Operation Christmas Child, a yearly initiative sponsored by the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse, runs from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22.
"Every box is an opportunity to reach a child with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's about telling children around the world and their families that God loves them. God hasn't forgotten them," said Graham.
Bits about Operation Christmas Child's history
President of Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham got a phone call in the summer of 1993 from a man in England requesting him to pack shoeboxes with presents for children in Bosnia who had been orphaned because of the conflict.
Franklin agreed, but he reasoned that Christmas would be months away at this point. He had completely forgotten about the pledge until he got a phone call inquiring about the presents around Thanksgiving time. Graham then enlisted the help of his friend, the late Pastor Ross Rhoads, of the Calvary Church of Charlotte.
Since then, over 188 million shoeboxes have reportedly been distributed to children in over 170 countries worldwide since 1993 as part of Operation Christmas Child.
The Samaritan's Purse initiative is also promoted by over 9,000 year-round volunteers throughout the United States. During the "National Collection Week" held in the third week of November, an additional 80,000 short-term volunteers assist at over 4,000 drop-off sites throughout the country.
After the shoeboxes are gathered, 90,000 volunteers take them to one of eight processing facilities where they are examined and made ready for international shipping. The 30,000 people that make up the organization's prayer network help to make this all possible.
There were more than 9.1 million Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes collected around the world, in countries like Australia and Austria, Canada and the United Kingdom, in 2020 alone.
